USC coach Lane Kiffin voted his team No. 1 in the coaches' poll (before he decided to ditch that effort, anyway), and maybe that had some bearing on how the writers voted in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 college football poll.

Southern Cal received 25 first-place votes, beating out No. 2 Alabama (17) and No. 3 LSU (16) for the top spot. LSU had earned preseason nods from both Sporting News and the USA Today coaches' poll.

Results include last year's record, number of points earned in the poll, and the 2011 final ranking.